Turkey 🇹🇷 extends troops deployment in Iraq 🇮🇶 and Syria 🇸🇾

Turkey's parliament approved the extension of a mandate that allows the deployment of troops in Iraq and Syria if faced with national security threats.

The move on Saturday came two day before an independence referendum in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region - a vote denounced by Ankara as a "mistake" and a threat to its security and regional stability.

The motion was backed by members of parliament (MPs) from the ruling Justice and Development Party, as well as the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party.

MPs from the People's Democratic Party (HDP) voted against it. The mandate had previously allowed the Turkish military to carry out cross-border operations from October 2, 2016, until October 31, 2017.

The motion said that Turkey places great importance on the protection of Iraq's territorial integrity, national unity and stability. The bill read in parliament listed combating Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant armed group as national security requirements for Turkey.

It also emphasised the importance of Iraq and Syria's territorial integrity and said "separatism based on ethnicity" poses a threat to both Turkey and regional stability.

UCJ, UNILORIN.